Poll: Should sales tax money be used for sidewalks?

Wednesday

Sep 23, 2009 at 9:57 PM

Mike Hall

Should any of the sales tax money approved by voters in April be used to pay for sidewalk improvements? If so, under what circumstances?

Those were among the questions Topeka City Council members wrestled with in a work session Tuesday evening. No decisions were made, and the administration has been asked to come back later with specific proposals.

Councilwoman Karen Hiller said it isn't surprising everyone is having difficulty finding the right combination of uses for the half-cent sales tax increase.

She said the public works department has put together an impressive team of people to work on the matter.

"We've been feeding them about two drops of water a year and now we're saying, 'OK, now you got what you wanted' and we turned on the fire hose," Hiller said.

The ballot question specifically includes sidewalks as among the "existing" infrastructure that may be maintained or improved with the sales tax money.

But both Hiller and Councilman Bob Archer used the word "confusing" to describe Tuesday's work session discussion of whether sidewalks should be included in the program. That is because there are so many side issues involved. For example, how will use of the sales tax impact the city's existing programs and laws concerning sidewalks, Archer asked. He noted the city offers a program of paying half of the repair of a sidewalk cited in a citizen complaint if the abutting property owner will pay the other half.

How is it fair, he asked, that someone living on a major thoroughfare being improved with the sales tax money gets a free sidewalk when the neighbor around the corner has to pay half of the cost of any similar repair?

Even worse, if abutting property owners refuse to participate in the 50-50 program, the city has the authority to force them to fix the sidewalk and pay all of the cost.

And no cheap slap-dash repair will be allowed, either. The repair has to be done to city standards and inspected by the city engineer's office.

One of Hiller's main concerns is how far the sales tax money will stretch. Hiller said she asked for a plan for what projects will be done, and at what cost, with the estimated $120 million to $160 million the tax will produce over 10 years. The estimate depends on whether you believe the estimates by proponents or those by opponents of the sales tax ballot question.

Hiller believes her constituents in city council District 1 expected the money to be used mostly for street improvements. She wants assurance that all needed street repairs can be paid for before the city spends any of the money on sidewalks.

Councilman John Alcala's concerns go back to the older 50-50 program. He said it is his understanding the city's offer to pay half of a sidewalk repair applies only to residential property and not to commercial property. That isn't fair, either, Alcala maintains.

"They (commercial property owners) pay the same amount of taxes as everybody else does -- more tax, really," he said.

Public works director Mike Teply said Wednesday there is plenty of time to study the sidewalk issue. None of the projects to be done in 2010 with the sales tax money involve any sidewalk work. The sidewalks in those areas are in good shape.

But the issue remains out there to be resolved eventually. In response to Hiller's feeling that her constituents want the money spent first on streets, Teply said: "What the voters said they wanted was not just streets. It was also sidewalks and curbs and gutters."

Mike Hall can be reached at (785) 295-1209 or mike.hall@cjonline.com

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